The Constitution of Nepal has mandated that the government at all levels should make agricultural policies, laws, regulations and procedures in accordance with the spirit of federalism. Based on this, all three levels of government are taking initiatives to make such policy documents and laws. This is a belated but positive step.

However, there is confusion at all levels due to the lack of policy clarity in the national vision and roadmap to develop the distressed agricultural sector. It is because of this confusion that an integrated agricultural policy in accordance with the spirit of federalism has not been made. Meanwhile, the draft of the Federal Agriculture Bill, which has been started for four years, has yet to come out of the internal discussion of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Agriculture, which is directly and indirectly related to the daily life of the common people and the health of nature as a whole, but is not suitable for our specialty, and is on a journey of continuous migration, needs a national consensus on the approach to be taken now. Ironically, let alone the serious debate of such a national thinking, there has been debate within the Ministry of Agriculture for the past four years to make the agricultural policy made two decades ago suitable for the changed environment.

Similarly, the drama staging of the revision of the agricultural development strategy, which was made for the Nepal government nine years ago with the efforts of more than a dozen donors, has been completed without a factual review. The Food Rights and Sovereignty Act, 2075, which was made without the national policy of agricultural development, has not yet been implemented. 

Land Use Policy, 2069, Land Act, 2076, Regulations, 2079 are standing on the court of amendment in a short time due to the complexity of implementation. Apart from contributing to the protection, enhancement and management of arable land, it also fails to prevent misuse for other purposes.

The forest master plan and the revised Forest Act, 2076, which have been in implementation for five decades, have failed to find a way to solve the current problems. In particular, the contribution of agroforestry to agriculture and food security and policy initiatives to promote forest-based foods have been missed. The condition of dozens of other policies directly and indirectly related to the agricultural sector is not different from these. 

Another thing, there is no clarity in the national approach to agriculture. For this reason, even the political proposals for agricultural development proposed in the manifesto of the parties have been limited to election slogans. It is a shame that the announcements of the ruling parties are not implemented.

The main reason to digest shame is the lack of a national consensus approach to agricultural development. Now, the entire agricultural sector is bound in the chain of dependence along with dependence. Policy made without its objective assessment, identification of the underlying cause and a clear roadmap for its solution and the law based on it cannot guide greater agricultural development. 

The agricultural sector is the backbone of social progress along with our food security. The results of the agricultural development based on the green revolution show that the pattern of agricultural development to be adopted will not only bring about extensive changes in the society, but also in the nature. It 

Imposed artificial chemicals, pesticides and sterile seeds have devastated biodiversity, soil, water and human health. Without accepting this bitter truth, the pattern of agricultural development and the national policy to promote it is the root cause of our current food crisis and food dependency. 

In such a situation, with a ruthless review of policies based on all these imported approaches, a national consensus on basic agricultural development capable of addressing the complexities of the rapidly changing and increasing climate and food crisis should be made. In addition, the priorities and standards of the agricultural system will have to be made accordingly. In another sense, we have to make a new pattern of agricultural system by defining our agriculture in terms of the value of nature, human and the interrelationship between them, geography and the diversity of nature and the abundance inherent in it while absorbing the changes in nature, technology and human tendency. 

When making such a framework, first of all, the vision of sustainable growth based on the characteristics of the local nature should be clear. The agricultural policy made in the changing situation should dare to make a transitional roadmap by prioritizing the long-term national interest. Our characteristic agricultural policy will not be made by showing the ghost of geopolitics as it is now. Balanced diplomatic initiatives with the neighbors and the international community, no one will stop to improve our original agricultural system. 

Basically, when creating such a framework, we should be freed from the maddened mood of doing commercial agriculture by increasing investment and transforming this country by increasing income and employment. Otherwise, not only the soil and food will be poisoned, but the burden of debt and poison brought to this society by such a competitive agriculture in the dilapidated condition of our diverse geography and nature, the size of the economy and the local agricultural infrastructure will not allow us to rise.

This is unfolding on the surface. Therefore, the main purpose of agriculture should be based on the concept of self-sustainable farming for food and the development and use of advanced technology, knowledge and skills based on local resources to promote the comparative advantage farming system. 

It should not forget the fact that there is a majority of small farmers who manage their food and social behavior by cultivating diverse crops and commodities on small and fragmented plots, taking into account the geographical and ecological diversity, primarily to establish an automatic food distribution system. At the same time, it is necessary to create a roadmap for the provision of healthy and nutritious food for urban consumers and the marketing of agricultural products with comparative advantage. 

Similarly, a transitional roadmap for organic transformation of the current toxic agriculture should be created, reducing dependence on synthetic pesticides and sterile imported seeds. At the same time, priority should be given to education, research and dissemination of nature-friendly technologies. The root cause of current temperature rise and water cycle uncertainty is the need for agricultural systems, technologies and methods capable of addressing the impact of the climate crisis on the local agricultural sector. 

A realistic analysis of these and other contexts should be done to meet the needs of today's food and other agricultural products and to hand over sustainable agriculture to future generations, emphasis should be placed on the spirit and spirit of the constitution, social justice and equality, sustainable management of nature and environment. At the same time, it should be based on the basic principles of sustainable agriculture and food systems, such as not having an adverse effect on the soil and human health, emphasizing the natural nutrient cycle, the coexistence and prosperity of all animals and plants.

In this sense, it is to establish an agricultural system based on the basic principles of sustainable agriculture using the least amount of external resources capable of producing healthy, nutritious food and multi-use agricultural products for human life from clean agriculture, making the country self-sufficient in food and increasing import substitution, employment and income through the promotion of agricultural products of comparative advantage, increasing the availability and access to sufficient nutritious food for all citizens and economically strong, social justice And based on the principles of sustainable environment based on equality, its goals and objectives should be defined with a clear vision of making the agricultural sector productive and competitive.

Short-term, mid-term and long-term strategies and tactics should be adopted to meet these goals and objectives. Apart from this, the legal, technical, administrative and resource management procedures to be adopted to make it successful should also be clarified in the agricultural policy. At the same time, as agriculture is a broad and interrelated subject, it is necessary to be equally clear in the area and scope it covers. 

Therefore, a factual review of the past policy and legal provisions, the socialist-oriented preamble in the constitution, fundamental rights related to food rights, security and sovereignty and the laws and regulations made to regulate them, changed social and environmental conditions (climate change, food crisis, migration), respect for farmers' rights and compliance with international treaties and agreements on these subjects should also be taken into consideration.

The policy-making process is equally important along with the nature-friendly agriculture approach and roadmap. Not only in the past, even now policy making or reforming work is limited to tradition. Participation and consultation in policy making has not come out of the narrow circle of vested interests. Ironically, the objectives and goals underlying many policy documents, including the Agricultural Policy Strategy and Act, are not aligned. By adjusting all these, the process of making an integrated food and agriculture policy of national consensus should be started rather than the revised document.